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An undated picture of the Costa Allegra cruise ship in Genoa's Harbor Italy. The Italian coast guard says a fire broke out on the ship off the Seychelles islands, Feb. 27. The ship owner Costa Crociere says in a statement there were no injuries or casualties among the 636 passengers and 413 crew members.

NAIROBI, Kenya — A French fishing vessel on Tuesday began towing an Italian cruise ship drifting powerless in the Indian Ocean to a nearby Seychelles island, but was not expected to reach the tiny resort island until Thursday, according to company officials.

A spokesman for Costa Crociere, the cruise company, told NBC News' Claudio Lavanga that the stricken liner carrying more than 1,000 passengers and crew members would arrive at the Seychelles' main island Mahe on Thursday.

The Costa Allegra lost power Monday after a fire in its generator room only six weeks after one of its sister ships, the Costa Concordia, hit a reef and capsized off Italy. No one was injured in the fire Monday, but the blaze set the cruise-liner adrift at sea in a region where Somali pirates prey on ships.

Company officials had previously said that they were making arrangements to evacuate people to the island of Desroches later on Tuesday and then take the passengers and crew to the main Seychelles island by plane and fast boats.

Company officials told Lavanga that the port at Desroches, a small, exclusive coral-lined island that has seen such visitors as Prince William and Kate Middletown before the two married, does not fit the safety criteria for a ship of that size.

The company said it was keeping passengers as comfortable as possible.

"Helicopters will ensure continuous supply of food, comfort items, flashlights in order to mitigate guests' discomfort given the difficult conditions on board," Costa said in a statement.

Two boats towing the Costa Allegra back to the Seychelles' main port — Port Victoria — were under escort by the coast guard and military.

Photos released by the Seychelles on Tuesday showed hundreds of people milling outside on the decks of the Costa Allegra. Taken by an Indian navy plane, the photos showed calm seas and an upright ship.

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The power burnout came six weeks after the Costa Concordia capsized, killing 25 people and leaving seven missing and presumed dead. Both ships are operated by Costa Crociere SpA, which is owned by the Florida-based Carnival Corp.

However, company officials rushed to play down concerns.

The Costa Allegra is adrift "and being pushed by the current. It is stable and upright," Giorgio Moretti, the director of nautical operations for Costa Crociere SpA, told reporters in a conference call late Monday from company headquarters in Genoa, Italy.

"It's a big ship and to tow it, to move it across the waters, is a heavy task," said Seychelles presidential spokeswoman Srdjana Janosevic. She said that everything is calm on board the cruise ship and that no one is hurt.

Italian Coast Guard officials said emergency generators were keeping the ship's control room illuminated and communications equipment such as radios running. Officials said the cruise liner was holding steady, despite 5-foot waves in the area and passengers were being kept in the ship's big communal rooms, not in their cabins.

Moretti, a longtime Costa captain, said he expected the 636 passengers aboard would spend the night on outside decks. Among them were 212 Italian, 31 British and eight U.S. passengers, he said. Four of the passengers were children ages 3 or younger.

The Allegra, whose Italian name means "merry," or "happy," had left northern Madagascar, off Africa's southeast coast, on Saturday and was cruising toward Port Victoria when the fire erupted. Costa said the Allegra had been due in Port Victoria on Tuesday.

The general region where the cruise ship was adrift — off the coast of Tanzania — has seen a rash of attacks by Somali pirates. In 2009, an Italian cruise ship with 1,500 people aboard fended off a pirate attack in the Indian Ocean far off the coast of Somalia.

Moretti said an armed nine-member Italian military team on anti-pirate duty was aboard the Allegra, but he insisted the maritime region where the ship was now "isn't a high risk area for pirates."

"If pirates attack, the armed guards on board will respond. But as far as I am aware, no pirates have been sighted in the area," said Janosevic.

Moretti said 15 Costa engineers, technicians and other officials were flying to Mahe in hope of reaching the Allegra by air to repair its generators.

NBC News, msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Video: Crippled cruise ship towed in pirate zone

Closed captioning of: Crippled cruise ship towed in pirate zone

>>with an italian
cruise ship
floating powerless with more than 1,000 passengers and crew on board in the pirate infested waters of the
indian ocean
.
michelle kosinski
has the latest from london. good morning.

>> reporter: hi, natalie. this is another costa
cruise ship
, a
sister ship
to the con concordia that crashed and rolled killing nearly 25 people. this ship is dark and drifting, now being towed for nearly 25 hours. there are more than 600 passengers, including eight americans on the
costa allegra
now in the indian oceans near the seychelles. where they have been drifting with no a.c., no power, no propulsion for almost a day because a fire broke out in the engine room and took hours to douse. the ship sent out a distress signal while having passengers and crew gather at assembly points. this in waters notoriously infested with pirates. the
coast guard
said passengers are fine. there are italian marines on board and a seychelles plane flew over. the problems started with a deadly disaster off italy last month. two
cruise ships
were hit with no ro virus outbreaks and then this on a ship described as shimmers and modern promising new and exciting pleasures every day, but waiting on deck for help to arrive wasn't part of the package. the problem has been getting to the ship to get help. a helicopter was able to bring food and communications equipment. it is now being towed. but it won't be until thursday they can get to the closest island big enough to handle the passengers. the company said it was sincerely sorry for the inconvenience. natalie?

A boy prepares to snorkel in front of the wreckage of the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia on Aug. 28, 2012.
(Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters)
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The Costa Concordia cruise ship lays near the harbor of Giglio on Oct. 14, 2012. The luxury cruise ship capsized and sank on Jan. 13, 2012, after approaching the Tuscan island of Giglio to perform a manuever close to the shore known as a "salute."
(Filippo Monteforte / AFP - Getty Images)
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A diver participates in a search operation Sept. 24, 2013, for two missing bodies onboard the Costa Concordia. The last two missing bodies were recovered on Sept. 26.
(Laura Lezza / Getty Images)
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Vessels surround the wreck of
the Costa Concordia cruise ship during an operation to refloat the boat on July 14, 2014 off the Italian island of Giglio. More than two-and-a-half years after it crashed off in a nighttime disaster which left 32 people dead, the plan is to raise and tow the vessel in an unprecedented and delicate operation for its final journey to the shipyard where it was built in the port of Genoa.
(Vincenzo Pinto / AFP - Getty Images)
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Editor's note:
This image contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing.